Na Na pinches her pennies
Shh… don't tell anyone I'm poor. They all think I'm living frugal and green just like everyone these days. This is a blog about a senior citizen living a frugal life, on a fixed income, in a low income food desert, and passing along knowledge from lessons learned. Some she learned from her Grandma Mama many years ago and some learned only a few days ago.
Downsizing meals
Progress is slow but I’m very serious about downsizing my life including the way I cook and eat. I did a little shopping at Dollar Tree using a tip that was snail mailed to me from Louisiana. I bought four small 7 inch plates and a clear glass coffee mug. I wanted four mugs but found only one.
The plates are actually what I call bread and butter plates or salad plates and the perfect size for my portion control eating goal. I call it my “cooking for one, eating for one” goal.
Where did I come up with the size plate needed for my personal portion control eating? From the diabetic portion control plate I was given in a diabetes education class about 12 years ago. I use it almost all the time. The area for measuring the food is the white area inside the orange circle on the plate. I measured and it’s 7 inches across.
The new plate fits right inside the area of the portion control plate. It helps with portion size. However; it doesn’t help with how often I fill the plate. When I was cooking larger amounts it meant there was more available to eat. I hate wasting food so I ended up eating it even when I wasn’t hungry. The coffee mug is for portion control of things like soups, cereals, or desserts.
I’ve been asked why I don’t cook larger portions and either eat the leftovers for a few days or else freeze it. Well, sometimes I do but often that food ends up getting tossed out because I get bored with it or I forget I have it. Seriously. I hate to waste food.
Most people do understand that cooking from scratch is healthier. It’s also more time consuming to cook a meal for 4 or 6 people than it is to cook just a little for one person. Measuring ingredients by tablespoons instead of by the cups full will cook much faster.
My ultimate eating goal is to reverse my diabetes and get off metformin. During my last office visit in December the nurse practitioner had wanted to start me on a third medication for diabetes. I refused because I want to use food instead of chemicals for my health. My whole life I’ve had issues of not eating enough healthy foods to keep up my vitamin intake. Particularly the iron rich foods to prevent anemia. I know when I’m anemic because I get very tired, sleep a lot, and I crave popcorn to excess. This is a last ditch effort to use food as my medicine. If I don’t get things under control by July I’ll give up and take more pills.
I hope everyone is staying safe during all the bad weather.
Anita
Na Na pinches her pennies 
Just curious, why do you think that you crave popcorn? The salt?
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No, not the salt. I eat it without salt. When a person’s iron level is very low it causes strange food craving. It’s called PICA. Some people crave odd things like chalk, ice, dirt, or clay. I’m just glad I didn’t crave any dirt or clay. I’ve always had low iron and need certain foods to keep my levels up but we hardly ever get them in a food box. I have iron tablets and iron rich foods on my grocery list. I’ll get what I can. I saw Kroger has the iron tablets on sale buy one get one free this week. They aren’t as good as time release capsules but will do for now. I’m also hoping the price of liver is lower. It also works to raise my iron level.
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Hi Anita, have you heard about intermittent fasting or time restricted eating as a tool to help control Type 2 Diabetes? I started this in November and have lost 24 pounds and my A1c went from 6.9 to 6.5. I’m on metformin and knew if I didn’t do something I might end up on insulin. I found a youtube channel by Dr. Jason Fung, he explains how this all works and about insulin resistance. I generally fast for 16 hours from 5pm to 9am. Eat all my meals, usually 2 meals and a healthy snack, if I get hungry, from 9am to 5pm. But I also cut out simple or refined carbs (pasta & white bread), sugar, artificial sweeteners, and processed foods. I also limit starchy vegetables like white potatoes. Initially I wasn’t sure I could do it, but just took it day by day until it’s now a habit. I too use a luncheon sized plate, dinner plates seem so large now. I like your plates and your shelves for food storage. Best wishes for good health!
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Yes, I tried it. It hasn’t worked for me. I watched Dr Fung and checked out his books The Diabetes Code and The Diabetes Code Cookbook from the library. I quit eating processed foods and artificial sweeteners years ago. Any food my Grandma Mama wouldn’t recognize as a food I won’t eat. Unfortunately the things he recommends cutting from the diet are what I need for the extra iron. Potatoes have iron and so does whole wheat flour. I bake from scratch. Beef which I need is very expensive so sometimes I eat beef hot dogs instead. I also eat Braunschweiger which is made from liver. I used to eat beef liver at least once a week but like all beef the cost is very high. Good health wishes for you too.
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